Publisher's Weekly Review
This short collection harnesses the harmlessly nihilistic title story with the essay "Creativity vs. Copyright" and Terry Bisson's interview with Doctorow. In the novella, a young man wanders an America where extremist factions armed with powerful technology have shattered the old social order, replacing it only with often violent chaos. The essay is classic Doctorow on copyright, denouncing its extreme applications as destructive and counterproductive. The rambling interview discusses the Web site BoingBoing, where Doctorow's an editor; his work habits; and the present state of young adult fiction. "The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" is harmlessly nihilistic. The interview is the high point of this short book, particularly the examination of the parallels between BoingBoing and Stewart Brand's Whole Earth Catalog, a 1970s collection presenting tools both technophile and traditional. Agent: Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Doctorow is a highly respected blogger (as coeditor of Boing Boing), a journalist, and a tireless advocate for the open-source movement to allow greater freedom to distribute content on the web, in such areas as digital-rights management and file sharing. He is also an award-winning writer of contemporary science fiction. In this bleak yet vibrantly populated novella (part of the PM Press Outspoken Authors series), Doctorow takes readers into the futuristic wasteland of Detroit, a toxic post-Disney dystopia where a wumpus-hunting Jimmy Yensid, a transhuman teenager, must choose between immortality and sex with Lacey Treehugger, the forbidden meat girl of his fantasies. This slim yet thought-provoking volume, which is available online as a free download via a Creative Commons license, will have Doctorow's hard-core fans buzzing, but it may be a bit too dark and dense for the casual sci-fi reader. A transcript of his Creativity vs. Copyright address to the 2010 World Science Fiction Convention and a lively interview with the outspoken author are also included.--Keech, Chris Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
The title of this novella comes from the theme song to the Disney ride "The Carousel of Progress," and the tale itself moves its protagonist through different future eras. Jimmy Yesnid is a bioengineered-to-be-immortal child living with his father in the ruins of Detroit. Jimmy plays with his robot dogs while his father curates his vast collection of items from the past, including a carousel. When their home is attacked, Jimmy flees into the changed world. Rampaging robots that devour anything made by mankind haunt him throughout his life as he reflects on change and the impermanence of all we do. This brief volume also includes Doctorow's address to the 2010 World SF Convention on "Copyright vs. Creativity" and an incisive interview about his fiction and nonfiction writing, online presence, and advocacy. Verdict For readers new to speculative fiction, this work serves as a wonderful introduction to the work of this inventive SF (and more) author (Little Brother). His fans will also want to add this to their reading list.-Dan Forrest, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.